‘ANC NEC must reprimand those who instructed MPs vote with DA’ – MKMVA

The ANC remains divided over its decision to back the DA’s motion in Parliament last week to establish an inquiry to investigate Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office.

The Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) on Tuesday joined the fray and called on the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) to reprimand the “relevant national office bearers” who instructed the party’s MPs to vote in favour of the motion.

The MKMVA also wants the NEC, which is scheduled to meet this weekend, to reconsider the ANC’s position on the matter.

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Last week, ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe and treasurer-general Paul Mashatile instructed the party’s MPs to vote in favour of the inquiry, a decision which reportedly saw President Cyril Ramaphosa and ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule clash heads over the top six’s authority to make such a decision.

“The MKMVA is deeply disappointed with the decision that led to the ANC caucus [in parliament] to have voted in favour of a motion by the DA. MKMVA believes that the members of the ANC caucus were wrongly instructed by the members of the national office bearers who told them to vote in favour of the DA motion,” MKMVA spokesperson Carl Niehaus said in a statement.

Niehaus, who is part of the radical economic transformation (RET) faction in the ANC, insisted that the vote in favour of the motion was against the ANC’s principles and policies not to vote with a party like the DA, which he said was white-dominated and had a history of racist conduct.

“The MKMVA therefore calls on the forthcoming meeting of the ANC NEC to reprimand the relevant national office bearers for the wrong decision they enforced and to reconsider the ANC’s position. It is critically important as we move forward there must be clarity, both with regards to procedures and principles.”

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ANC veteran and NEC member Joel Netshitenzhe has accused Magashule of seemingly being part of a wider campaign to undermine the party’s structures after he showed support for party MPs who did not participate in the parliamentary vote.

Magashule told Durban-based radio station Gagasi FM last week that the ANC MPs did the right thing by refusing to “sleep with the enemy”.

Netshitenzhe, writing in his personal capacity for the Daily Maverick on Monday, questioned Magashule’s decision to distance himself from the top six officials’ position on Mkhwebane and his statements over the ANC’s step aside guidelines.

“And so, a trend is emerging where the secretary-general of the ANC is starting to stick out like a sore thumb among his peers and across the movement. This seems to form part of a wider campaign to undermine the structures of the ANC,” Netshitenzhe said.

Read the MKMVA’s full statement below:

#MKMVA disappointed that @MYANC voted in support of an @Our_DA motion and requests the #ANCNEC to discuss it. pic.twitter.com/QL71mgNtjV

— Carl Niehaus (@niehaus_carl) March 23, 2021

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